By now I am assuming you have all read the ruling from the National Appeals Committee (see the official ruling text below) with regard to the protest / appeal on what runs are to be officially scored for Heat 5 at the 2016 Solo Nationals (See Official Heat 5 Results Here).

No matter what your opinion might be about this ruling, I am hopeful that you can appreciate the difficulty of the decision process for not only the NAC, but also for the Protest Committee and the Chief Steward. I have been doing this a very long time and in my experience I believe the set of circumstances taken in whole are unprecedented. Everyone involved was trying to do what was best for the competitors and the sport while trying to balance a sense of fairness with respect for the rules. Despite what your opinion may be, I am hopeful that you can respect your fellow members involved in these decisions and the leadership role they took on for the Club and sport.

One of the things that got lost in this whole discussion is the difficult job the workers of Heat 5 had, whether on the East or West courses, in completing their tasks under VERY difficult conditions. I have the utmost respect for those that stuck it out when it would have been so easy to just slip away. Those folks truly represent the best of the Solo Community!

The core purpose of this letter is to apologize for a major oversight on Friday night at the awards presentation when we failed to have all of the trophy winners from Heat 5, and potential trophy winners, be announced and come across the stage. I have replayed the circumstances that led up to this oversight a hundred times in my head, along with writing various versions of this letter in my mind. While it might be technically accurate to lay out all of these circumstances, when all is said and done it would undoubtedly just come off as being akin to "the dog ate my homework"; just excuses. I let this important detail slip by and I apologize for this unintended oversight. We are putting in place a better structure for next year to avoid this situation, but for this year's event I am so sorry Heat 5 East trophy winners did not get their moment on stage.

Congratulations to not only the trophy winners from Heat 5, but to all the competitors who endured the very difficult challenges of the Heat!

Howard Duncan, SCCA Senior Director of Rally/Solo

Nationals Appeals Committee Ruling

On Thursday September 29th, 2016 the National Appeals Committee (NAC) held a conference call to consider the appeal filed by Nationals Chief Steward Kathy Barnes. The appeal was of five separate protests concerning the restart of grid during the fifth heat of the East Course on Friday at the Solo Nationals. Present on the call were NAC members Paul Brown, Jeff Jacobs, and Doug Wille. Doug Gill from the National office was present to organize and call the interested parties. During the course of the call the NAC heard testimony from Kathy Barnes, Jennifer Merideth, Howard Duncan, Bob Tunnell, Ron and Karen Babb, Chris Dorsey, Steve Hoelscher, PJ Corrales, James Darden and Brian Conners. The NAC also received and considered written from letters from Langlee King, Tara Johns, Anne Vincent, Dina O'Donnell, Will King, Steve Hoelscher, and Chris Dorsey.

The decision of the NAC is to deny the appeal and uphold the decision of the Protest Committee. The results will include the dry runs, then the wet runs in the order in which they were taken. The fourth runs of those who were offered them will not be counted.

The appeal is well founded, and the appeal fee will be returned. The NAC wishes to thank all involved parties for their candor, thoughtfulness, good sportsmanship, and service to the SCCA. Further the NAC wishes to commend those responsible for operating the National Championships on Friday for their disciplined and professional approach to watching the weather, guarding competitor and worker safety, and preserving the results as events unfolded.

The National Appeals Committee (NAC) received and accepted the appeal filed by Solo Nationals Chief Steward Kathy Barnes. This was an appeal of five separately-filed protests concerning her decision to restart from scratch the fifth heat of the East course on Friday at the Solo Nationals following a nearly two-hour long rain delay caused by extraordinarily severe weather. Some thirty drivers had already taken their first runs on a dry surface, at which point a severe thunderstorm arrived in the area denying the remaining competitors an opportunity to compete in dry conditions.

The decision to discard the dry runs and restart heat 5 from scratch was protested immediately by five of the competitors and considered by the Protest Committee while heat 5 runs took place. The Protest Committee upheld four of the protests and largely declined to address a fifth (the Corrales protest), finding that the rules did not provide the authority for the Chief Steward to discard the dry runs. At the close of heat 5 competition, the dry runs were restored and the resulting final "fourth run" of those drivers was discarded. The Chief Steward filed a notice of intent to appeal, the appeal fee, and the appeal itself, all in accordance with the guidelines in the Solo Rules.

Upon receiving the appeal paperwork, the NAC reviewed the written protest documents, the appeal filed by the Chief Steward, the Solo Rules and Supplemental Regulations of the event, and the written comments submitted by the protesting parties as well as several competitors who ran in heat 5 but did not participate in the formal protest process. The NAC spent several hours hearing from and asking questions of the Chief Steward, the protesting parties, the chair of the Protest Committee, the Event Chairs, and other event officials. The NAC thanks all of the parties for their participation and thoughtful discussion. The NAC unanimously reaches the following decision:

There are a number of difficult principles involved in this protest/appeal. One has to do with the authority that a Chief Steward must have in order to perform his or her duties. We understand that the Solo Rules cannot possibly address every possible situation; that is why we have Chief Stewards to make tough decisions, and their authority to do so is important and should be preserved within the boundaries and guidelines defined by the Solo Rules.

Another principle has to do with fairness. The Solo Rules do not specifically address fairness, but it is one of the underlying guiding principles for the entire program. A situation where only a portion of a class has a chance to drive on a dry course while others only a course covered in inches of water can certainly be considered to be "unfair." Conversely, a course that starts out wet and dries during competition gives the later drivers a distinct advantage and could be considered "unfair". Ambient temperature, shallow but changing sun angles, courses that start out dirty, courses that have coolant or oil applied by a car with a mechanical failure, and courses that build up rubber or marbles also can be considered “unfair” to some competitors as they are not static conditions. These are not hypothetical situations as we are all familiar with specific instances of each of them. The rules do not specifically address any of them as far as allowing or requiring reruns or the restarting of a heat of competition. Generally speaking, these situations, however unfortunate and "unfair," have been considered to simply be part of the chances we take in entering a Solo event (i.1.4 in the Solo Rules).

The NAC finds that the wording of Rule 5.1 gives a Chief Steward broad authority to make decisions the ensure the event operates consistent with the intent of the Solo Rules, not just the exact text of the rules. "After the start of the event, the authority of the Chief Steward shall supersede that of the Event Chairman regarding the effectiveness of event administration procedures in achieving the intent of all applicable rules." There may very well be circumstances where it would be appropriate for the Chief Steward to discard runs, re-run part of a heat, or even restart a heat of competition from scratch in order to achieve the intent of the Solo Rules.

However, the NAC also finds that these particular circumstances do not support the Chief Steward's decision to restart heat 5. The NAC finds that there is an absence of an intent in the Solo Rules to have changing weather conditions alone factor into the fairness of Solo competition. As noted by several of the witnesses, it has long been the tradition and understanding in Solo that the weather "is what it is" - some drivers will benefit from a change in the weather while for others the change is detrimental. The NAC is aware of prior suggestions to add weather related rules to the Solo Rulebook which were declined by the Solo Events Board. We believe the lack of a rule addressing fairness and changes in weather reflects an intent that changes in weather not be the basis for discarding runs or declaring results “unfair.” Additionally, 1.3.2.F states “Basic rules and standards for conduct of events must be drawn up before an event is run and be available to all competitors.” Lacking written notice, competitors should expect event operations to proceed as they have in the past. Removing legitimate run times that have been officially posted constitutes a significant change in event operations.

Therefore, the NAC upholds the decision of the PC. The results will include the dry runs, then the wet runs in the order in which they were taken. The "fourth runs" of those who were offered them will not be counted.

Despite ruling against the Chief Steward’s appeal, the NAC has no doubt regarding her intent to provide the competitors the fairest possible results and to have the issue of changes in weather given careful thought. We believe there was value in having this issue discussed through the protest and appeals process. The NAC encourages members who believe that the Solo Rules should address weather more directly (even if to say that changes in weather alone should not invalidate timed runs scored or the “fairness” of an event) to send proposed language to the Solo Events Board for consideration.

The appeal is well founded, and the appeal fee will be returned.

As a closing note, the NAC finds that the Corrales protest regarding the run order that followed the decision to restart heat 5 was well founded, as was the subsequent appeal, however, we also find that the run order was appropriate for the circumstances at the time.

Respectfully Submitted,

Paul Brown
Jeff Jacobs
Doug Wille